Elite and Championship Pro Rodeo Lead Individual Bull Prizes in Fort Worth

Champion Bull – 1137 Cowbanger

The 25th high marked bull ride of the legendary Tuff Hedeman Fort Worth Champion Bull Riding is owned by CBR’s Chairman of the Board, Benny Cude. The “bred to buck” bull calls the 7 Rocking X Ranch in Priddy, Texas home.

According to Cude who owns Championship Pro Rodeo, he has been on the professional rodeo trail lately with five PRCA outs in 2017 and remains unridden in PRCA regular season competition. The Tuff Hedeman Fort Worth event was his third CBR out on the 2017 Road to Cheyenne and the first time he was ridden on the CBR tour.

Sired by I’ma Gangster and out of a Big Bucks cow, 1137 Cowbanger, one of Cude’s prized buckers from his Championship Pro Rodeo team, has bucked at both the CBR World Finals and the PRCA’s Wrangler National Finals Rodeo.

Joe Frost of Randlett, Utah, was the first to cover the unpredictable black bucker and it happened on the big stage in Las Vegas during round 2 of the 2016 Wrangler National Finals Rodeo in December of 2016.

It was no surprise to Benny Cude when he learned Frost selected 1137 in Fort Worth for the Shoot Out Round.

“I was excited when Joe picked him because I knew he could ride him and he would have a good clean shot. The bull is fresh and I am glad he rode him for the fans, it was a great match up and I look forward to the next one,” said Cude.

Joe Frost had this to say about selecting his partner for the championship at the Fort Worth event.

“I picked second and had studied the four man bulls before the event, I rode him (Cowbanger) at the NFR and things went good and I knew he really bucked so I had my eyes on him. He bucks hard enough to win the round on and I went with that theory,” said Frost after his second CBR event title win.

“That bull had a lot of hop and skip in his pattern tonight – he has timing for sure, but it’s different every time,” laughed Frost when asked how 1137 felt compared to Vegas.

Frost, whose grandfather is a brother of Clyde Frost (Lane Frost’s father) is carrying on the Frost family tradition that his late cousin Lane Frost made synonymous with bull riding.

Cowbanger has only been ridden three of the twenty-seven recorded attempts. Kimzey was matched with 1137 in 2016 in Lufkin and although the night ended early for Kimzey, the bull posted his second rankest score of 46 while bucking Kimzey off in 4 seconds. His rankest recorded trip was in Rio Rancho in 2016 where he bucked off Kody DeShon and earned a 47 score in the four man Shoot Out round.

Bull of the Event – 626 Karaoke owned by Elite Bucking Bulls

626 Karaoke was declared the rankest bull at the 2017 Fort Worth Tuff Hedeman CBR event with a 90.5 bull score. Bucking in the semifinal round, the CBR’s four bull judge system rewarded the bull two 23 point marks, one 22 and one 22.5 for an average of 45.

Trained and hauled by former bucking bull great Mike White who retired from riding bulls to breed, raise and train competitive bucking bulls, 626 Karaoke, is arguably one of the most storied bulls in the team challenge division of CBR, competed at the highest level as an individual athlete before he was part of the CBR Bull Team Challenge breaking earnings records during his young career.

“He has been a great bull for us and has never had an off day, he always gives it his all every time the gate opens,” said Mike White who is part of the Jerilyn Harmon’s Elite Bucking Bulls equation.

Wrangler’s National Finals Rodeo qualifier Jeff Askey lasted only 2.52 seconds on his first trip aboard the storied bucker in Fort Worth which didn’t please Askey, but when combined with the rank score it was enough time on the clock to land Jerilyn Harmon and Mike White’s team a fourth place bull team challenge check and valuable points towards qualifying the team for the CBR World Finals and a shot at the $100,000 bonus at the end of the season.

It was Karaoke’s first rank Bull of the Event title for the 2017 season, but in 2016 he claimed the award three times on the Road to Cheyenne and was one third of the team that earned $87,000 and qualified for Cheyenne in the number one position and finished the season with $93,000.

Elite teams 1 and 2 are currently ranked in the top five of the 2017 CBR BTC standings with Karaoke on board for the Road to Cheyenne. He was Champion Bull, highest marked ride score, of Rio Rancho in January when Cody Jesus was 92 points on him the semifinal round. Harmon and White’s Elite team have claimed event titles in the Hobbs and Jackson, TN Bull Team Challenge with Karaoke on board both times.

While his stats are impressive, Karaoke is part of the fabric that weaves the CBR story year to year and he is part of many defining career moments that sometimes go unnoticed. Jesus won the average title in Rio Rancho with 626’s assistance which put the Indian Champion on the CBR televised tour. Vastbinder’s only event title (Laughlin) was with 626. In 2016, he catapulted Kimzey to the lead of the CBR World Standings as part of Kimzey’s Bossier City victory. O’Mara finished second in 2016 to Kimzey, but he won two rounds and one event where Karaoke was part of the equation as well.

He is a left hand delivery bucker sends right handed riders to the locker room early 74 percent of the time which explains why left handers Juan Alonzo and Jacob O’Mara have succeeded each time they see their name next to his.

Career Highlights of 626 Karaoke

– Ridden five of his ten appearances during the 2016 season
– Four for six on the 2017 Road to Cheyenne
– He is the only bull on the CBR’s roster that has bucked in the National Finals Rodeo (2015), CBR World Finals (2013-16) and the PBR World Finals (2014).
– In 2016, Karaoke led the 2016 CBR Bull Team Challenge stats with the most 90 point plus rides for the season.
– 47 points bull score (94 total) against Chandler Bownds in 2013 at Cheyenne Frontier Days, his CBR professional debut and the team won the $100,000
– As a son of the great bucker Wild Nights, 626 has had seven career outs in Cheyenne, five times to compete in the CBR World Finals Bull Team Challenge, where he has been covered three times.
– Jacob O’Mara rode him as part of Lufkin win
– 16 career winning outs as the rankest bull
– 10 rider round winning outs
– 9 90 points plus rides for CBR

CBR bull team competition heads to Del Rio next for the Whitehead Memorial Museum 40th George Paul Memorial Bull Riding on April 28 – 29, 2017.

Courtesy of CBR